A Nakusp entrepreneur is taking the next step in his plan to bring new life to the Village’s dormant marina.

Grant Smith has made an application to the Lands Branch for a licence to use the foreshore area and lakebed under the existing marina to study the facility’s commercial potential.

The application is now under review and residents have until February 1 to comment on the proposal.

Smith approached Nakusp Village council with his proposal last year to take over the 40-year-old dock, which was turned back to the local government after the society that ran the marina folded.

Smith wants to spend several years rebuilding the business, enlarging the dock, adding more than 50 new slips, providing gas, sani-dump and other services year-round, and building a new breakwater to expand the usable area of the marina.

But to start, he is seeking a one-year ‘investigative licence’ to explore to possibility of developing the Nakusp marina.

“This licence term should allow us to investigate additional permits, further discuss land lease options with the Village of Nakusp, expand our marketing plan, etc.,” he states in a management plan released last year.

While the Village has been actively seeking someone to take over the facility, they cautioned they needed to hear a lot more detail from Smith before endorsing his plans. The licence of occupation will help Smith pin down some of those details.

John Boivin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Valley Voice